Peter Nordin (August 9, 1965 – October 12, 2020) was a Swedish computer scientist, entrepreneur and author who has contributed to

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...

automatic programming In computer science, the term automatic programming identifies a type of computer programming in which some mechanism generates a computer program to allow human programmers to write the code at a higher abstraction level. There has been little ...

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

, and

evolutionary robotics Evolutionary robotics is an embodied approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in which robots are automatically designed using Darwinian principles of natural selection. The design of a robot, or a subsystem of a robot such as a neural controller, ...

Studies and early career

Peter Nordin was born in 1965 in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

but moved to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

in 1967, where he was raised. He began studies at Chalmers University of Technology in 1984 and completed the M.S. in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and engineering in 1988 and studied economics. He then worked as a

knowledge engineer A knowledge engineer is a professional engaged in the science of building advanced logic into computer systems in order to try to simulate human decision-making and high-level cognitive tasks. A knowledge engineer supplies some or all of the "know ...

for

(AI) company, Infologics AB, focusing on

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

knowledge-based systems A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a computer program that reasons and uses a knowledge base to solve complex problems. The term is broad and refers to many different kinds of systems. The one common theme that unites all knowledge based systems i ...

and

complex system A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...

configuration Configuration or configurations may refer to: Computing * Computer configuration or system configuration * Configuration file, a software file used to configure the initial settings for a computer program * Configurator, also known as choice bo ...

. Nordin began his research while at Infologics AB, Sweden. His work led to several European research projects (

ESPRIT Esprit or L'Esprit may refer to: * the French for Spirit; as a loanword: ** Enthusiasm, intense interest or motivation ** Morale, motivation and readiness ** Geist "mind/spirit; intellect" * Esprit (name), a given name and surname * ''Esprit'' (m ...

) including projects in

(

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

vehicles) and methodologies for AI system development. He began his research in

Genetic Programming In artificial intelligence, genetic programming (GP) is a technique of evolving programs, starting from a population of unfit (usually random) programs, fit for a particular task by applying operations analogous to natural genetic processes to t ...

(GP) in 1992. In 1993, he started Dacapo AB, a research and development company. He invented a method for automatic induction of binary machine code using genetic programming and researched how to produce machine code with genetic programming. In 1997 he co-founded the American company RML Technologies, Inc. with commercial GP software. Nordin spent a large portion of 1995 and 1996 at the

University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and ...

, where he completed his doctoral studies. At Dortmund University he initiated research in

. and demonstrated that GP can be used for real-time, on-line

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

and

control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlli ...

of robotic systems. In 1998, he co-authored a textbook on genetic programming. Peter Nordin created a search engine company in 1999, VILL AB (with global search engine wannasee.com) as well as another AI-company, Tific AB for automated support, and received the year’s Sten Gustafsson prize for entrepreneuring, awarded by the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which prom ...

. At the time, he was also the co-founder of Chalmer's Medialab and was on the board of the Swedish AI Society. He was Chair of the second European Conference on Genetic Programming, EuroGP 1999, now part of EvoStar.

Robots and commercialization of AI

During 1998–2003, he was an associate professor at Chalmers’

Complex Adaptive Systems A complex adaptive system is a system that is '' complex'' in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. It is '' adaptive'' in that the indiv ...

(CAS). For a short period he led an international master's degree program in CAS, which he co-founded. He led the master’s program and supervised construction of GP-based adaptive physical robots. During this time, he also started Chalmers’ Humanoid Project resulted in Sweden’s first full-scale

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other pu ...

s; Elvis, Elvina, and Priscilla, which currently reside in Sweden’s National Museum of Science and Technology. Robots from the Humanoid Project participated in “RoboCup” soccer matches for humanoid robots He also founded the first European company for humanoid technology: the Estonian company European Humanoids OY. Several of Nordin's students have created their own humanoid projects, such as Davide Faconti and the REEM-B robot and Almir Heralic with HR2. Much of this earlier work focused on evolutionary robotic

methods for:

problem solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

, sound and

image processing An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

and advanced

non-linear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...

low-level control. Robots have also learned to walk on two legs without having foreknowledge by simulating the behaviour. The robot Elvis, attracted some media interest internationally. The world's first flying "flapping" adaptive

ornithopter An ornithopter (from Greek ''ornis, ornith-'' "bird" and ''pteron'' "wing") is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, ...

robot appeared in TV and other media. The popular science book; “''Humanoider: Självlärande robotar och artificiell intelligens''”, was one result of this public interest. During his time at Chalmers, he started another 10 spin-off companies based on his research. He had a number of patents, all related to genetic programming and evolutionary methods. He was a co-founder of the Institute of Robotics in Scandinavia. From 2013 Peter Nordin was an adjoint professor at Chalmers in Göteborg, Sweden. Nordin was seen in the public debate on treatment of gifted children and is an advisor for the

Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally com ...

Process, both he and his wife were active members of

. He lived with wife Carina and 6 children outside Gothenburg in Askim.

Career summary, research

Peter Nordin had a PhD in Computer Science at

(1997) and a degree in computer science and engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in

, Sweden (1988). His later research included commercial evolutionary robotics software and software for a complete cognitive system for robots. His earlier research included ''Evolutionary software architecture for robotics'', the invention of evolutionary induction of mathematical proofs and of binary machine language, speech and vision recognition, and

linear genetic programming :''"Linear genetic programming" is unrelated to "linear programming".'' Linear genetic programming (LGP) is a particular subset of genetic programming wherein computer programs in a population are represented as a sequence of instructions from i ...

for internet search. He researched analysis of genetic programming through complexity theory. Peter Nordin was the inventor of the ALLAN-method for

Artificial General Intelligence Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of some artificial intelligence research and a common topic in science fictio ...

based on complexity measures i.e. Speed Prior using random strings as reinforcement to create a

Universal Artificial Intelligence AIXI is a theoretical mathematical formalism for artificial general intelligence. It combines Solomonoff induction with sequential decision theory. AIXI was first proposed by Marcus Hutter in 2000 and several results regarding AIXI are proved i ...

Notes

External links

RoboBusiness: Robots that Dream of Being Better

Sweden: The Land of Robots

Institute of Robotics in Scandinavia AB (iRobis)

The Humanoid Project

HR-2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordin, Peter 1965 births 2020 deaths People from Helsingborg Artificial intelligence researchers Swedish computer scientists Cognitive scientists Businesspeople in information technology Swedish roboticists Swedish businesspeople Technical University of Dortmund alumni Chalmers University of Technology alumni 21st-century Swedish inventors